Benchmark institutions serve as a standard to which our institution may be compared. The benchmark institutions for our College are community-based medical schools.

Community-Based Medical Schools in the US

Below is a list of terms that describe the various ways in which medical schools affiliate themselves with parent institutions.

Relation to Parent University
Relationship of the medical school to the parent university classified as:

  • Related/proximate: the medical school is part of a public or private university and is located in the same city as the parent university;
  • Related/distant: the medical school is part of a public or private university, but is not located in the same city as the parent university (this category includes urban/suburban relationships);
  • Freestanding: the medical school is part of a freestanding entity which does not have any affiliation with a parent university; both public and private freestanding medical schools exist;
  • Freestanding/state system: the medical school is a freestanding entity, however, it is affiliated with a state system of higher education;
  • Federal government freestanding: a public medical school sponsored by the federal government; the Uniformed University of the Health Sciences is the only school that fits this category;
  • Consortium: a medical school that maintains cooperative relationships with other universities; Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine, a community-based, state medical school, is the only school that fits this category.

Community-Based School
Community-based schools follow a nontraditional model in their relationship to affiliated hospitals and local physicians. They rely on community hospitals for clinical facilities, and they appoint many community physicians to their faculties.

Definitions taken from the American Association of Medical Colleges http://www.aamc.org/data/ocd/fielddefinitions.htm